A LIBRARIANS BOOK DISCUSSION ON "THE END OF MEN".
The German mainstream magazine Der Spiegel, which may be thought of as the German speaking world's equivalent of Time Magazine, published an important article translated into its English language edition of an interview given by the controversial author Hanna Rosin, critically acclaimed book "The End of Men." This in the world of business and economics sets out in broad strokes the case for the end of the blue collar working class American male.

Spiegel quote:Former city of industry Detroit: "Factories close and the men don't have jobs anymore."

In a SPIEGEL interview, Israeli-American author Hanna Rosin, 42, whose book "The End of Men" is to be published in Germany this month, discusses the identity crisis being experienced by the male sex in America. Men, she argues, are the losers in the economic downturn because they are too rigid and inflexible.

Updated and republished
Written by an American Expat living in the E.U.
The mainstream publication Der Spiegel truthfully reported that the Wall Street banksters committed "a monumental insider bank robbery" for which no one went to jail. Since the date of publication, 2 years ago the US for-profit plutocrat owned media has ignored this story but more to the point perhaps is the fact that not only did they ignore the story, they failed to report it in the first place. Why is that? Here's why, because it's going to happen again. The needed regulation to prevent it from happening again has never been put in place. There's too much money to be made by too many people for it not to happen again. Therefore as it is incentivized, it will happen again. In fact the only question the smart money is asking is when will the next crash occur?

(Republished and updated: November 2012)
A look at our empire in decline through the eyes of the European media...

SPIEGEL: Notes on the Decline of a Great Nation: The United States is frittering away its role as a model for the rest of the world. The political system is plagued by an absurd level of hatred, the economy is stagnating and the infrastructure is falling into a miserable state of disrepair.

As an American expat living in the European Union, I’ve started to see America from a different perspective through the prism of the European media.
The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less -- right around 9 percent of GNP on medical, whereas we in the U.S. spend close to between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical -- the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.
The U.S. has 59 million people medically uninsured; 132 million without dental insurance; 60 million without paid sick leave; 45 million on food stamps. Everybody in the European Union has cradle-to-grave access to universal medical and a dental plan by law. The law also requires paid sick leave; paid annual leave; paid maternity leave. When you realize all of that, it becomes easy to understand why many Europeans think America has gone insane, particularly as 2 million long-term unemployed Americans are getting ready to lose their jobless benefits as America approaches the year end fiscal cliff.

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
The German mainstream magazine Der Spiegel has published an article entitled, Sex, Lies & the CIA. That title has inspired me to write this diary, as ours has become a land where betrayal of the trust that we put in public officials has not only become common place, it is in fact expected, as if it had become part of our American DNA, or national political genome, as part of the natural order of things in the modern day neo-feudalist America. Where we're told by the media, Americans punish honesty and reward betrayal, and therefore the media merely gives the American people what they want, which is 'happy talk.'

The media tells us that Americans accept betrayal by the political class willingly by their apathy, and therefore get the government they deserve.
In a clear case wherein the oaths of office and campaign promises of elected and appointed officials are generally disregarded, because their betrayal of us has become an accepted norm in America, which rarely if ever is punished. Therefore this makes the resignation of David Petraeus as spy master and chief over a sex scandal somewhat unique in modern American history.

A diary of a reluctant Obama voter!
(Written by an American expat who holds a M.B.A. degree and lives in the E.U.)

DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
Just before the elections the German Der Spiegle wrote:

Spiegel quote:Germans see the US election as a battle between the good Obama and the evil Romney. But this is a mistake. Regardless of who wins the election on Tuesday, total capitalism is America's true ruler, and it has the power to destroy the country.

Clearly the weak American social safety net has become an international badge of shame, worn with pride around the necks of American capitalist elites who have put America up for international pillory as a pariah state wherein estimates show 1.5 million Americans live on less than $2 a day, which is on par with many third world nations.

The U.S. has 59 million people medically uninsured; 132 million without dental insurance; 60 million without paid sick leave; 40 million on food stamps. Everybody in the European Union has cradle-to-grave access to universal medical and a dental plan by law. The law also requires paid sick leave; paid annual leave; paid maternity leave. When you realize all of that, it becomes easy to understand why many Europeans think America has gone insane.

America's plutocratic government by the rich and for the rich failed to protect the American people on 9/11. Failed to protect the American people during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and now they have failed to protect New York during Hurricane Sandy, because the American government doesn't work for the 59 million Americans who don't have medical insurance. It doesn't work for the 45 million Americans who live on food stamps and live under the poverty line.

In the cover article Divided States of America: Notes on the Decline of a Great Nation, German magazine Der Spiegel scornfully and quite rightly points to the fact that millions of Americans are without power now on the east coast. Particularly in and around New York city because of antiquated power systems that deliver electricity on power lines akin to what is seen commonplace in third world developing nations. Whereas modern electrical utility systems in Germany and prevalent in many other countries in the European Union have their power lines buried underground, because they know if you want good infrastructure that protects the people, you have to be prepared to pay for it. There is no such thing as a free lunch and that means that you have to step up and speak out. The ultra rich must pay their fair share of taxes. A fact that is lost on Capital Hill, lost in government by the rich, for the rich, (remember half of the members of Congress are millionaires) where conservative America's right wing Taliban sacrifices 45,000 Americans annually who according to a recent Harvard study die preventable deaths each and every year because they don't have access to medical care.

(Written by an American expat of European ancestry living in the European Union)

In the heart of New York City in Times Square, a youthful in appearance African-American male, who was obviously mentally ill produced a knife, given his lack of capacity and clear copus mentis impairment, and almost as if it were a magic wand, everyone and everything it seems in Times Square stopped what they were doing and followed him. Now a foreigner seeing or reading this might ask why? Only a foreigner could ask this because the Americans all instinctively knew that the police at any second could kill Darrius lawfully. When the video starts out Darrius has 2 minutes 51 seconds left to live. He would retreat until his pursuers boxed him in, and then he would be summarily executed. This case deserves to be full investigated by a body outside of the NYPD!

SPIEGEL QUOTE: Police spokesman Browne will later say that the officers opened fire after Kennedy had come within "two to three feet" -- less than a meter -- of them. Police Chief Kelly will report: "The officers got out of the car. As a result, Kennedy approached the officers with the knife; they had no place to go." BOTH MEN KELLY AND BROWNE, AREN'T TELLING THE TRUTH.
(End of quote)

No one in America's press would criticize these actions, because they are common place. So it was that the mainstream German magazine 'Der Spiegel' in true investigative reporting spoke the truth in the above quote, which is that the police were clearly prevaricating. (Please note: In the youtube video below, when shots ring out the person taking this video was about 25 yards away form the shooting).

SPIEGEL QUOTE:The various videos circulating on the Web clearly show that KENNEDY IS AT LEAST 15 to 20 FEET AWAY FROM THE officers STANDING AT THE SQUAD CAR WHEN THEY START SHOOTING. And it isn't as if they had just gotten out of their cars and were taken by surprise by their victim or somehow found themselves in a situation requiring self-defense. In fact, they are standing there with their weapons drawn, waiting for Kennedy, who passes another shop, the Jewelry Patch, before turning around and facing his death.

(This economics diary was written by an American expat who holds an MBA degree and lives in the European Union).

WHY DOESN'T THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAVE A PROGRESSIVE WEALTH TAX FOR MILLIONAIRES?

Why in America are millions of millionaires allowed to hold an estimated $11.6 trillion dollars in assets without an introduction of a wealth tax? At a time when America is broke, when 59 million Americans have no medical insurance; over 44 million live below the poverty line and subsist on food stamps, and childhood poverty has hit record levels, wherein a third of American homeowners are in underwater mortgages. Isn't it time for America to join other highly industrialized countries in calling for a wealth tax on the millions of Americans who are millionaires?

This diary is written by an American expat living in the European Union reporting on grassroots healthcare reform issues for Main Street America.

As an American expat living in the E.U. no matter where I go, every resident I see has access to medical coverage. Imagine that a Continent full of people with a population that is greater than that of the United States can afford to offer this to it's citizens, as the European Union is now rated the second largest exporter in the world in a posture wherein as part of the E.U. Germany is rated the 3rd largest exporter in the world, whose currency the Euro rivals the US dollar, wherein everyone is medically insured with a full prescription benefit program from cradle to grave as a human right.

At this point I would like to introduce you via the magic of Youtube to Marianne Hoynes, who's a great American, who is fighting for her life and yours! As it happens Marianne Hoynes is one of millions of medically indigent Americans. But with Marianne Hoynes there's a difference she's turned into a healthcare activist, as she cannot afford her prescription medication bill, which will be forcing her into medical bankruptcy along with millions of other Americans. Thanks to the robber baron policies of the 1% in the American neo-feudalist state. Marianne Hoynes is exposed to substantial pain everyday of her life with every step that Marianne takes, she is in pain and her pain and her suffering exemplifies the pain and the suffering of millions of Americans who are denied medical access based on their inability to pay.

Marianne bravely gives voice to the voiceless and a human face to pain and suffering of the medically excluded. You shouldn't turn away from this diary. You shouldn't turn your back on Marianne. You should hear her story, because her story is America's story. There's no better time to tell America's story than on the 4h July! The day of American birth and rebirth. Time to remember our neighbors. Who is Marianne Hoynes? She is the all American girl next door. Today we are all Marianne's family, and so it is that I ask you as our American brothers and sisters please do not look away.

Let me add that I'm an American expat who has German insurance. If Marianne Hoynes were in Germany, her medication could be purchased with a $12 co-pay. Stunning isn't it!

For anyone unable to watch the video, here is a quote from Marianne Hoynes:

"Please hear this voice of the disabled. Don't let the insurance lobby win this fight. From the exhortion of the pharmaceutical industry, I'm a citizen of the
United States and I need Congress to stand up for me, because I cannot stand up for myself."

Written by an American Expat who holds an M.B.A. degree living in the E.U.
My email address is: democratsramshield@yahoo(dot)com

Surely the death of the American working class dream is not news to the American 1 percent elites. The truth be known simply put they like it that way, as they surely are the architects of the GOP led class warfare against the American working class.

(The Statue of Liberty in the photo below is located in Paris, France and is believed to have become emblematic as the American dream now resides in Europe instead of America).

Le Monde quote: "From Near And Far, Bidding Farewell To The American Dream
By Claire Gatinois

LE MONDE/Worldcrunch
No matter what the frame of reference of the person examining it, its bottom line is unambiguous: the United States - not supposedly fusty Europe -- rates lowest in terms of this relationship in the distribution of riches and social mobility. Yes, Paris Hilton's America ranks way below the Scandinavian countries, but also below France, New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom, and others."
---------------------

Author's preface:
Written by an American expat living in the E.U. (who holds an M.B.A. degree). This diary is a review of the Spiegel article entitled "Has America Become an Oligarchy?" written from the perspective of a business librarian. My email is: democratsramshield@yahoo.com

------------------------

Spiegel quote: 2002 and 2007, 65 percent of the income gains went to the top 1%

"Spiegel quote: Indeed, if you look at the reports it compiles on every country in the world, even the CIA has concluded that wealth disparity is greater in the US than in Tunisia or Egypt."

Late last year this mainstream German news outlet asked, has America become an Oligarchy?Has America stopped being a mixed economy?

Spiegel quote: "A generation ago, the United States was a recognizable, if somewhat more unequal, member of the cluster of affluent democracies known as mixed economies, where fast growth was widely shared. No more. Since around 1980, we have drifted away from that mixed-economy cluster, and traveled a considerable distance toward another: the capitalist oligarchies, like Brazil, Mexico...

Clearly, the subject matter presented by the article asking if America has turned into a Oligarchy is not news to American elites, who in fact not only know all about it already, but the truth be known simply put they like it that way. The Spiegel article which may be shocking to the sensibilities of the American plutocrat owned media correctly portrays an American society which has become essentially speaking depoliticized, wherein elections have become by way of sophistry a meaningless public relations extravaganza that has been bought by private capital in support of a legalized robber baron system of theft.

For me leaving home, family and friends was easier for me to live with than watching the America that I grew up in die!

In order for me to stay human! I couldn't allow myself to become desensitized and assimilated to the hunger, fear and suffering. I knew for me to not be assimilated and stay human I was going have to leave America for good. I had to leave America! It was just too painful to stay and watch the America I grew up in die!

As an American expat people tell me I'm a brave soul to have left America, home, family and friends, that people like me are a brand of the new American pioneer, who no longer just go West but every direction of the compass now. I realize I had to leave America when I saw I could no longer go to the fair. The America that I was raised in, county fairs were a big event. They had rodeo's and clowns. The future farmers of America had events where they could win prizes. The fairways were busy with people and eating wonderful things like cotton candy in big reddish orange plumes, and laughing and going on bumpy rides to the cheers and screams of delight echoing through the fairgrounds.

Now the fairgrounds of America from sea to shining sea are regularly turned into what some are calling the nightwalkers' waiting room, who stand in long lines sometimes all night to get urgently needed dental care. They don't mind staying up and standing out in the cold, in the dark often times with their family members, because they and the people around them live in chronic pain, probably almost everyday. These people are desperate and they are too afraid to go to sleep, because they know that with first come, first serve, people will be getting turned away before daybreak. Some have been quoted as saying that farm animals are treated better than they are.

In the America I grew up in we used to care about each other.
What the Hell happened to us? Where did America lose its way?

This diary was originally published at Alternet. Please note this diary was published both in English and in the German language. The German language edition full text is located below the English language edition in this diary in its entirety.
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(Written by an American expat living in the European Union).

It wasn't until I left America that I started to realize how badly the American plutocrat owned media lies to the American people through its disinformation campaign.

Well today for a span of at least this one Daily Kos diary, you will get to see what the American plutocrat owned media never wants you to see, and that is how Europe in particular and the world in general has come to see America as a country in decline, whose people are so badly misinformed by the media, they actually don't realize that America is the only major industrialized nation in the world that by right of law does not offer universal medical access, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave and paid annual leave. It just seems almost impossible to get that word out to the American people. Even diaries on that subject at the Kos top out at just over 2,000 views. Let's please remember the purpose of the plutocrat owned commercial media isn't so much to inform us but rather to sell commercial advertising space.

Therefore this diary today will try to do something different. It will show you what the European media is saying about the American dream and you will be shocked!

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union.)
This diary announces the launch of the foreign language group at the Daily Kos. Our group is dedicated to bringing the voices of progressive American bloggers to the international community through foreign language media and bi-lingual diaries to every corner of America and the globe.

This diary was originally published at Alternet and additionally as its author I was grateful that it did receive some attention from progressive radio show host Thom Hartmann who provided a detailed review and commentary. This diary was also featured on Current TV where it gratefully received a large number of comments. As such this original diary is now presented in bi-lingual format both in German and in English. It presents the struggle of the American working class vs the plutocracy in what can only be described as class warfare. These Daily Kos groups invites any and all interested persons to become members and followers.
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(Please note I am not a professional translator, but rather a citizen journalist, and what is offered in this diary is an interpretation of my English language diary into German. I also offer my interpretation of quotes from English into German. In a time of class warfare wherein the plutocracy tries to buy the Congress, the American working class in order to defend itself and helps shape progressive public policies must be free to appeal to the world court of public opinion from America's progressive grassroots diaries.)

Intro:
As an American expat living in the European Union, I've started to see America from a different perspective.

#1)
The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less on medical -- right around 9 percent of GNP, whereas we in the U.S. spend between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical -- the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
On Nov. 16th, Glenn Beck basically announced that its "God's will" that the European Union will fail. Let's remember that the great social democracies of the European Union, unlike America have a strong working class social safety net. Since then the steady stream of criticism of Glenn Beck from the mainstream European media outlets, have been making European readers aware of the Beck phenomenon, such as the German magazine Der Spiegel and the British newspaper the Guardian; wherein European media asks the question, is Glenn Beck's reign at Fox News finally over calling him a person full of hatred, an agitator in a throwback to the Weimar Republic and a conspiracy theorist whose sagging ratings seem to be pushing him off Fox News. This diary offers a fresh look at criticism of the Fox News Glenn Beck propaganda regime from the perspective of the European media. As such this offers insights from a European perspective not usually available in the American plutocrat owned media.

Just over six weeks ago, a German mainstream publication Der Spiegel truthfully reported that the Wall Street banksters committed a monumental insider bank robbery. Since the date of publication, the US for-profit plutocrat owned media has ignored this story but more to the point perhaps is the fact that not only did they ignore the story, they failed to report it in the first place.

As an American expat who holds an MBA degree in marketing, currently living in European Union, I was struck once again by the reality that the job of the American media doesn't seem to be about really informing us but rather to sell commercial advertising space as a marketing profit center. I've learned through truthful reporting to rely on the European mainstream media sources like Germany's Der Spiegel and Britain's BBC networks. What I have also learned is that we have to reach out to our fellow Americans and citizens of the world in alterative media and ask each of our readers to help us get the word out through email and social networking sites like Facebook in order to get the truth out.

To that end, will you help us get the word out?

The reason we need your help is because the German Spiegel magazine also reported that the Wall Street banksters are at it again, behaving just as shamelessly as they did before the crash. To which I would ask how long before a second Wall Street crash and how long before a second tax payer bail out?

Did you know that the library is America's last truly socialized institution and that everyday you come a bit closer to losing it! As a male who is a business librarian, (that is to say someone who holds graduate degrees in library science and an MBA degree in marketing), I understand very well that fee for service in America's library systems are creating a class of information have-nots. For some of you this means that your children aren't going to be able to read as well. It also means that as voters in a democracy, you will no longer be as well informed without full library services. As the series, the American dream vs the European dream which I was able to generously publish with the support of the Daily Kos community, we have seen that we cannot depend on the plutocrat owned radio and television media. Sometimes we have to go to print sources, even international print sources of the variety and scope that you can't possibly afford as an individual to subscribe to them all. Additionally libraries make online databases available to their patrons that allow you with the touch of a button to read international media sources from around the globe. You're in the process of losing this all and a lot more.

Now let's ask why should you be interested in defending America's last truly socialized institution? Well, let's get down to it shall we? So you don't think the library is a completely socialized institution. Well, let's talk about the theory of a library for just one minute, which is everyone who walks in the door and holds a library card has access completely to the same services. It doesn't matter if they're the mayor or a homeless person. Everyone in the library is supposed to be treated the same. It is the one place in America where equality doesn't just get lip service. The American Library Association has produced a wonderful statement called the Freedom to Read Statement wherein it is believed that your freedom to read comes directly from the first amendment of the constitution of the United States. You're about to lose that and that's pretty darn important.